Lt. John Lawrence Stuart Watson
British Army 7th/9th Btn. Royal Scots (attached 5th Highland Light Infantry)
from:Inverness
(d.29th November 1944)
Lawrie Watson served with the Territorial 7th/9th Battalion, Royal Scots mobilised in Scotland in September 1939, the 7th/9th was briefly deployed to France with the 155th Infantry Brigade, alongside the 4th and 5th King's Own Scottish Borderers of the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division before the collapse of the French government, but was quickly withdrawn.
He was then attached to the 5th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry which landed in France as part of the 157th Brigade in the 52nd (Lowland) Division in June 1940. After evacuation from Cherbourg later in the month, they landed in Belgium in October 1944 and took part in Operation Infatuate in November 1944. The 5th Battalion remained at Bergen-op-Zoom till 25th November, performing much necessary maintenance to equipment and person and generally resting after its labours on Beveland and Walcheren.
On 25th November it moved to Waalwijk on the south bank of the River Maas, taking over from the Algonquin Regiment, 1st Canadian Army. Waalwijk was an extraordinary sector in many ways. It was the front line, the enemy held the north bank of the river, yet the town was full of civilians and, by day, everything was very normal and peaceful. Between them and the river stretched a flooded polder about three quarters of a mile across. This was perfectly flat, and the village was under direct enemy observation, but the houses themselves, which were continuous, screened any movement by troops. Oddly enough the enemy never shelled them.
At night the situation was rather different. Every night at least one patrol was sent out to recce the bank of the Maas. On the night of 29th November my grandfather was killed on patrol, probably by a fixed-line machine gun and although subsequent patrols attempted to locate and recover his body this was not accomplished till the night of 2nd December.
